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Come rattle my pipes
Dec. 4th, 2009 07:35 pmLately I have fallen off the LJ wagon. Things got busy and I got out
of the habit of writing here. Hopefully now that things have calmed
down a bit I can get back into the habit.We shall see.
Life has settled to a dull roar here. The house is starting to look
more like a home with Pinky working on it as much as possible. He has
been feeling under the weather (as we all have) but manages to somehow
get things done when they need doing. When we got here he had already
torn down all the paneling put in in the late 70's early 80's. The
chipboard pieces were soaked with decades of nicotine and dust.
Removing them turned the living room from a dark, ugly , ashtray
smelling cave into an open room full of air and light. Much to our
dismay though we found that under the rug was the remnants of a horrid
orange carpet padding that had bonded it self to the wood floors by
dint of being old,cheap and walked on for 3 decades. Pinky has been
literally banging away at the floor to try and get this orange menace
off the floor without ruining too much of the wood. On top of that
there has been painting with Kilz to try and negate the ill effects of
too much smoking and too little open windows. There is no way to
describe just how awful the build up of crud from decades of smoking
in the house actually is. There was a fine yellow film on everything
except it wasn't fine , it was layers deep and took four or five
scrubbings before cleaning solutions sprayed on surfaces would stop
dripping brown. There are still places that haven't come entirely
clean and I think we are going to have to get a steamer and see if
that helps. The work that needs to be done is sometimes overwhelming.
The house was built sometime after the last century , maybe 1908 or
so. It's walls are lathe and plaster which will eventually have to
come down so we can update the electrical work (put in around 1944 or
so) and the network. This will also mean we will need to update the
circuit breakers to 220 as the way the house is wired now there is now
way it can handle all the computer equipment, the other appliances and
all the shop stuff would overwhelm it far too often. There are
original wood floors all throughout the house which will have to be
sanded and finished. In the kitchen there is linoleum which has seen
better days and will have to be replaced. Windows that still have
their lead weights attached and those will have to be upgraded along
with the replacement windows mom put in that have lost their seal. The
bathroom is beyond tragic. It will need a complete overhaul from walls
out. Right now we are living on oil heat so hopefully by next winter
we can convert to electric or something a little less scary. Then the
basement needs to be finished off because we need another room for the
kids . Wait, i mean rooms for the kids. So let's see-
Paint walls with Kilz
sand and finish floors
tile kitchen floor
replace windows
tear out walls
rewire house and network
tear out forced hot water oil heat and replace with electric baseboards
gut bathroom and redo
add electricity, walls, floors and ceilings to basement for two
bedrooms, a living space and a shop
and we will be up to speed on the inside
Then we can start on the outside. The house is made from old masonry
which has not been updated. Ever. The outside will have to be pointed
and re-grouted (or whatever the masonry term is) then painted to seal
it. We need a new larger driveway to accommodate the extra cars and a
walkway from both the street and the new driveway as there is nothing
there now. Half the yard is fenced it with a metal chain link fence
which we will either paint or plant to hide. Not sure yet which. The
law, which we have loving termed "Mole Acres" needs a little work.
Degrubbing, reseeding, thatching etc. Gardens will have to be put in
and a patio too. Luckily we don't have to start thinking about that
until February. ;)
I know it sounds like a lot of work. It is.It's really satisfying
though. One of the reasons I have not been around so much here in
virtual world is that I look forward to getting up every day and
starting on some new project in the house. I will try and keep you
guys updated on how the work progresses (with pictures if I can). If
you want to swing by please do but accept my mea culpas in advance if
we all seem a little anti-socail for the next few months. Its not you,
it's us.
of the habit of writing here. Hopefully now that things have calmed
down a bit I can get back into the habit.We shall see.
Life has settled to a dull roar here. The house is starting to look
more like a home with Pinky working on it as much as possible. He has
been feeling under the weather (as we all have) but manages to somehow
get things done when they need doing. When we got here he had already
torn down all the paneling put in in the late 70's early 80's. The
chipboard pieces were soaked with decades of nicotine and dust.
Removing them turned the living room from a dark, ugly , ashtray
smelling cave into an open room full of air and light. Much to our
dismay though we found that under the rug was the remnants of a horrid
orange carpet padding that had bonded it self to the wood floors by
dint of being old,cheap and walked on for 3 decades. Pinky has been
literally banging away at the floor to try and get this orange menace
off the floor without ruining too much of the wood. On top of that
there has been painting with Kilz to try and negate the ill effects of
too much smoking and too little open windows. There is no way to
describe just how awful the build up of crud from decades of smoking
in the house actually is. There was a fine yellow film on everything
except it wasn't fine , it was layers deep and took four or five
scrubbings before cleaning solutions sprayed on surfaces would stop
dripping brown. There are still places that haven't come entirely
clean and I think we are going to have to get a steamer and see if
that helps. The work that needs to be done is sometimes overwhelming.
The house was built sometime after the last century , maybe 1908 or
so. It's walls are lathe and plaster which will eventually have to
come down so we can update the electrical work (put in around 1944 or
so) and the network. This will also mean we will need to update the
circuit breakers to 220 as the way the house is wired now there is now
way it can handle all the computer equipment, the other appliances and
all the shop stuff would overwhelm it far too often. There are
original wood floors all throughout the house which will have to be
sanded and finished. In the kitchen there is linoleum which has seen
better days and will have to be replaced. Windows that still have
their lead weights attached and those will have to be upgraded along
with the replacement windows mom put in that have lost their seal. The
bathroom is beyond tragic. It will need a complete overhaul from walls
out. Right now we are living on oil heat so hopefully by next winter
we can convert to electric or something a little less scary. Then the
basement needs to be finished off because we need another room for the
kids . Wait, i mean rooms for the kids. So let's see-
Paint walls with Kilz
sand and finish floors
tile kitchen floor
replace windows
tear out walls
rewire house and network
tear out forced hot water oil heat and replace with electric baseboards
gut bathroom and redo
add electricity, walls, floors and ceilings to basement for two
bedrooms, a living space and a shop
and we will be up to speed on the inside
Then we can start on the outside. The house is made from old masonry
which has not been updated. Ever. The outside will have to be pointed
and re-grouted (or whatever the masonry term is) then painted to seal
it. We need a new larger driveway to accommodate the extra cars and a
walkway from both the street and the new driveway as there is nothing
there now. Half the yard is fenced it with a metal chain link fence
which we will either paint or plant to hide. Not sure yet which. The
law, which we have loving termed "Mole Acres" needs a little work.
Degrubbing, reseeding, thatching etc. Gardens will have to be put in
and a patio too. Luckily we don't have to start thinking about that
until February. ;)
I know it sounds like a lot of work. It is.It's really satisfying
though. One of the reasons I have not been around so much here in
virtual world is that I look forward to getting up every day and
starting on some new project in the house. I will try and keep you
guys updated on how the work progresses (with pictures if I can). If
you want to swing by please do but accept my mea culpas in advance if
we all seem a little anti-socail for the next few months. Its not you,
it's us.
